Day Center Opens Up New Relationships
Our staff members long to be available to all the orphanage graduates we meet in Zhytomyr’s trade schools. But in our old office space, we could only fit small groups – packed like sardines!
In November, we moved into a big, beautiful flat, which has been appropriately renamed the Day Center because we have so much space for our young people to visit every day. It’s close to downtown Zhytomyr, an easy 7-minute walk from the bus stop.
The Day Center has transformed the way we meet with our youngest orphanage graduates. Frequently after morning trade school classes, they arrive at the Day Center for a hot meal provided by donations from a local nonprofit partner. On Mondays, Tanya Krevoruchko offers Ukrainian composition and literature classes to help students pass their state exams. Wednesday is movie night with lots of popcorn; we show either a Christian movie or something with a positive message. Thursday we offer English lessons, and Friday handmade craft projects.
Tuesdays and Saturdays are open days. Our youth love to come visit and play table tennis, use the computers, do laundry (a vital service), take showers (also vital), and connect with our staff. Important conversations about their lives and futures happen here!
For our largest gatherings, we still rent larger spaces throughout Zhytomyr. But the new Day Center meets many of our needs. We’ve hosted youth meetings at the Day Center for up to 70 people! The space includes a shared office for our lawyer/administrator Senya Shulgin, and ministry director Andrey Pankyeyev. At this location, there is room for private legal conversations, group discipleship, and so much more. Our moms’ group, Stop the Cycle, also uses the Day Center for meetings.
The entire Last Bell community has converged to make the Day Center a welcoming place. Trade school graduates from our past Shelter residential program, including Sveta and Alona Varss and Kiril Volinets, are always pitching in. Many of our youngest youth from Educational Outreach help out, too – even one young woman we just met this year! Valentina, or Valya for short, who takes part in our English lessons, is the fabulous guide in this video tour of the new Last Bell Day Center:
We know this exuberant, busy hub of Last Bell life is surrounded and lifted up by a far-reaching network of friends: not just Ukrainian staff and volunteers, but all of you, our supporters and donors across the ocean. Thank you for making this place possible for our youth!
